HELPS TO 
HAPPINESS 



N 





SB 
















B. 


COOIiSEY' 







Class 

Book 

Copigiit}; 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



Helps to Happiness 



BY 

REV. N. B. COOKSEY 

Author of "Christian Science Under the Searchlight," "Russellism 
Under the Searchlight," "Doctrine and Duty Made Plain 
and Attractive," and "Bible Talk Outlines." 



Price, Cloth Binding, 25 Cents. 



PUBLISHED BY 

COOKSEY PUBLISHING COMPANY 

OLNEY, ILLINOIS 



3 J}* 81 

.C73 



Copyrighted, 1916, by N. B. Cooksey 



SEP -8 (9!6 



©CI.A438294 ^ J^fj 
*>M> ♦ I 



Helps to Happiness 



AMBITION IS HELPFUL TO HAPPINESS 

As to the desire for happiness, we find it is uni- 
versal. That is the one thing upon which all 
mankind are agreed. From the toiler in the field, 
to the king upon his throne, there is a universal 
ambition to be happy. Not only is there a uni- 
versal desire for it, but there is more or less ef- 
fort to secure happiness among all men. Some 
are concentrating all their energies in the pursuit 
of happiness, while others seem less hopeful, and 
more faint-hearted in their efforts. But if the 
efforts that are being made to secure happiness 
were only put forth in the right direction, this 
world certainly would soon be changed to a para- 
dise, and the cups of happiness would be filled to 
overflowing. Unfortunately, much of the effort 
to become happy is lost, because it is made in the 
wrong way and happiness is expected where it 
never can be attained. One of the world's great- 
est mistakes is that of supposing that complete 
happiness can be found in the attainment of some 
one thing, whereas the helps to happiness are 
very numerous. Man is a compound being, pos- 
sessing physical, intellectual, and spiritual na- 
tures, each of which have many wants which 
must be supplied if man is to be a happy being. 

3 



4 HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



If any one or more of these physical, intellectual, 
or spiritual needs are not satisfied, man is, to 
some degree, thereby made unhappy. 

Happiness is not one great joy to be found in 
the attainment of one great aim or purpose in 
life, but it consists of many things, found in a 
great many experiences and possessions of life. 
This has been beautifully illustrated by one 
writer in these words : "The idea has been trans- 
mitted from generation to generation, that hap- 
piness is one large and beautiful precious stone — 
a single gem, so rare that all search for it is vain, 
all effort for it hopeless. It is not so. Happiness 
is a mosaic, composed of many smaller stones. 
Each taken apart and viewed singly, may be of 
little value ; but when all are grouped together 
and judiciously combined and set, they form a 
graceful whole, — a costly jewel. Trample not 
under foot, then, the little pleasures that appear 
along the daily path, while you look for some 
great joy which may never be attained." 

How strange it is that the world can never 
learn that there is no one thing that will make 
all mankind happy! Who does not know the 
Money Family, who believe that money is all 
that is necessary to happiness. Many of them 
succeed in amassing great wealth, but they find 
there is something more than money needed to 
give permanent happiness. Who does not know 
the Gaiety Family, who believe that amusement 
is the great secret of happiness, but they find 
something more is needed to fully satisfy them. 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 5 



Who does not know the Vanity Family, who 
think fine clothes are all that is necessary to hap- 
piness, but they fail to find permanent happiness 
in them, even though their resources may be un- 
limited. Who does not know the Society Circles 
who believe that happiness is found in social life, 
but they have found that it is not all that is neces- 
sary to a happy life. Who does not know the 
Literary Folk, who seek for happiness in books 
and periodicals, but they have learned that to 
supply the mental needs of man is not all that is 
necessary to happiness. Who does not know the 
Piety People, who think that religion is all that 
is necessary to perfect happiness, but they find 
that religion cannot supply the physical needs 
of man, which are so necessary to his happiness, 
that it cannot feed the hungry, clothe the naked, 
house the homeless ; that however desirable, it 
was never intended to be a substitute for biscuit, 
beefsteak, etc., without which none can be per- 
fectly happy, so long as he is in this earthly 
tabernacle. Who does not know many other 
people who are seeking in vain for perfect hap- 
piness, in some single attainment or possession. 
This is one reason so many people do not find the 
happiness in life that they desire; a great many 
helps to happiness have been provided, but they 
insist upon isolating one and depending upon it 
alone, consequently they are disappointed. 

We would not make the impression that all 
helps to happiness here presented are absolutely 
necessary to the happiness of each individual, but 



6 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



they will all be found helpful in the experience 
of different people. Different persons require 
different helps to happiness, because their wants 
differ, and these wants must be satisfied, or they 
cannot be perfectly happy. Even the same indi- 
vidual requires different helps to happiness, at 
different periods of life. In childhood a toy or 
doll will fill their cup of happiness to overflowing, 
but in mature life, much more is needed. In this 
fact is found another reason so many people are 
not happy ; their desires and wants outgrow 
their resources for supplying them, and unhappi- 
ness follows. If seekers of happiness will only 
be reasonable in their demands and expectations, 
and will use the abundant helps to happiness 
provided, they certainly will be happy. 

APPRECIATING OPPORTUNITIES IS 
HELPFUL TO HAPPINESS 

Opportunity is a golden word and represents 
that which is more precious than glittering gold 
or sparkling diamonds. One of the very first 
requisites to happiness is to see and appreciate 
the golden opportunities of life. We must have 
opportunity or we cannot hope for happiness. 
Our abilities and ambitions count for little, un- 
less the door of opportunity is open to us, and he 
who is alert, and sees and appreciates oppor- 
tunity, is on the certain road to happiness. 

Pliny has well said : "No man possesses a 
genius so commanding that he can attain emi- 
nence, unless a subject suited to his talents 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



7 



should present itself and an opportunity occur 
for this development." The same may be said 
as to our aspirations to happiness. The first 
thing we want is the opportunity to test our abil- 
ity to win the fight for success and happiness in 
life. 

Fortunately, we live in the greatest age of op- 
portunity this world has ever known. We are 
certainly fortunate to be living in this, the Twen- 
tieth Century, the best period in this world's his- 
tory. There never was so good a time to live as 
the present age. The facilities for usefulness and 
happiness never were so great as now. People 
can get much more out of life and put more into 
it than at any other period in the world's history. 
The improvements, discoveries, and inventions of 
these modern times give us facilities for useful- 
ness and happiness never before enjoyed, and it 
is splendid to live in such an age. 

In the days of our forefathers, they lived chiefly 
on Johnny cake, a hard corn bread baked in the 
skillet in the old fireplace ; we are permitted to 
feast on hot biscuits and Angel Food. In the 
days of our fathers they went to the distant mill 
on horseback, with the grain in a sack, and 
waited their turn at the mill. We no longer go 
to mill, but our bread is delivered steaming hot 
at our doors. In the days of our fathers, plowing 
was done with the ox-team, to-day it is done by 
the gasoline engine. In the days of our fathers 
the grain was cut with the cradle and threshed 
with the flail ; to-day it is cut by the self-binder 



8 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



and threshed by the steam thresher. In the days 
of our fathers, clothing was made on the old- 
time loom and was coarse and ugly ; now it comes 
from the immense steam weavers and is smooth 
and beautiful. In the days of our fathers they 
carried water from the distant springs; now we 
receive the same by turning the faucet in our 
homes. In the days of our fathers they rode in 
the ox-cart and farm wagon ; now they have the 
fine carriage and automobile. In the days of our 
fathers they made long journeys by stage coach ; 
now they go in the automobile or lightning ex- 
press. In the days of our fathers they drove 
many weary hours to the distant markets ; now 
the markets are at our doors. In the days of our 
fathers they did their nightly work by the lamp 
or tallow candle ; now we turn on the electricity. 
In the days of our fathers they waited months 
for the message from the fatherlands; now they 
come at once by cablegram. In the days of our 
fathers they waited weeks for letters from near- 
by States ; now they come over night and are 
read the first thing after breakfast. In the days 
of our fathers they patiently waited for years to 
have a friendly conversation with loved ones ; 
now we take down the 'phone receiver and talk 
at will. In the days of our fathers they got their 
education sitting on split-benches in the log 
school house ; now we are blessed with spacious 
school houses, fine high-school buildings, and 
magnificent colleges. In the days of our fathers 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 9 



the business men crazed their brains adding long 
columns ; now we do the same in an instant by 
the use of the adding machine. In the days of 
our fathers all correspondence was done with the 
hand-made goose quill pen ; now it is done with 
the modern typewriter which makes a half dozen 
copies at once. In the days of our fathers the 
printer set his type by hand, a letter at a time; 
now he uses the wonderful linotype, which casts 
more than one hundred type in a minute, setting 
and electrotyping the Lord's Prayer in less than 
two minutes. In the days of our fathers only 
the rich could have the benefits of the press ; but 
now all business men find it a powerful agency 
in promoting business. In the days of our 
fathers the gospel message was carried on horse- 
back to the pioneer pulpits ; now they use the 
press, the glad tidings of salvation are sent forth 
with telegraphic speed, each page becoming a 
white-winged messenger of peace to those in 
darkness. 

Certainly the advantages of the present age 
are innumerable, and we who live at the present 
time should be glad and rejoice because of the 
splendid opportunities for success and happiness 
that lie out before us. Who will not say that it 
is glorious to live in such an age as this? Who 
could fail to take courage and plan for the proper 
improvement of such splendid opportunities? 
Certainly our helps to happiness have never been 
equaled in the history of this world. 



10 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



GOOD ASSOCIATES ARE HELPFUL TO 
HAPPINESS 

One of the important helps to happiness is good 
associates. People are known by the company 
they keep, and it is always wise to select the 
best, for if the lower is chosen, it is impossible to 
rise ; but if the best is not agreeable, it is easy to 
come down. Of course we must live worthy of 
the best associates, otherwise we will be forced 
down, and our humiliation will be greater than 
if we had never aspired to associate with the best 
people. 

While good associates are a great help to hap- 
piness, bad associates are as great a source of 
evil and troubles. Bishop Colbridge has well 
said: "Be cautious with whom you associate, 
and never give your company or your confidence 
to persons of whose good principles you are not 
certain. No person that is an enemy to God can 
be a friend to man. He that has already proved 
himself ungrateful to the Author of every bless- 
ing, will not scruple, when it will serve his turn, 
to shake off a fellow-worm like himself. He may 
render you instrumental to his own purposes, but 
he will never benefit you. A bad man is a curse 
to others ; as he is secretly, notwithstanding all 
his boasting and affected gaiety, a burden to him- 
self. Shun him as you would a serpent in your 
path. Be not seduced by his rank, his wealth, his 
wit, or his influence." 

People are very much like rain-frogs ; not that 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 11 



they look like frogs, jump like frogs, or keep up 
a racket like frogs, but they are creatures of their 
surroundings like rain-frogs. One time we heard 
a frog rattling off his little tune up on the grape 
arbor among the green leaves. We slipped up 
and got a peep at him, and he was a little green 
fellow, just like the leaves with which he was 
surrounded. At another time we heard a rain- 
frog up on a fence. We found this little fellow 
to be gray, just like the rail on which he lived. 
Another rain-frog was seen sitting on a black-oak 
tree. A close inspection of him revealed the fact 
that he was a dark colored frog. We came to the 
conclusion that rain-frogs were the color of their 
environments, and that their surroundings often 
changed their color. It seems that they are al- 
ways the color of the things surrounding them. 
This may seem very strange, yet it seems to be a 
well authenticated fact. 

People are very much like these rain-frogs. 
Their character takes the color of their environ- 
ments. If their intimate associates are good they 
can be good, but if their associates are bad their 
character and reputation soon become blackened. 
Like the rain-frog, to a great extent, they take 
the color of their surroundings. With all of us 
this is more or less the case, though we do not 
like to admit it. This being a fact, it is of the 
greatest importance that in our selection of as- 
sociates we should choose only those whose in- 
fluence will add beauty and accomplishments to 
our character and promote our happiness. 



12 HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



FRIENDSHIP IS HELPFUL TO HAPPI- 
NESS 

Man is, by creation, a social being, and must 
have friends or he can not be happy. Very much 
of the happiness of mankind comes from asso- 
ciation with loving friends. One of the most pa- 
thetic scenes is to see friendless men and women 
walking the lonely paths of life. Such need not 
be the case, for all may have friends if they but 
live worthy of them, and show themselves 
friendly. About the wisest thing that the wisest 
man ever said was, "A man that hath friends 
must show himself friendly." (Prov. 18. 24.) 

Herein is the secret of the unhappiness of many 
people ; they have no friends, for they will not 
show themselves friendly. They are unhappy 
and no one is to blame but themselves. 

There seems to be two kinds of friendship in 
the world, the false friendship and the true 
friendship. The first is generally a friendship 
resting on profit, and the second a friendship 
resting on merit. The first are your friends be- 
cause they think it pays them to be friendly, the 
second are friends because they deem you worthy 
of their friendship. The first friendship is like a 
rope of sand which may vanish at any time, the 
second is like a mighty cable that never can be 
broken. Give to some men ninety-nine times and 
they are your dear friends, but refuse them the 
hundredth and they will hate you for it. 

One morning when we were in college, we 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



13 



heard the students talking about Captain Lee's 
boys, and pretty soon some one exclaimed : 
"There goes Captain Lee's boys." We were 
curious to know what had so suddenly brought 
Captain Lee's boys so prominently to view. They 
were little chaps who were in the preparatory 
course, and we had never heard them mentioned 
on the college grounds before. It seemed so 
strange that Captain Lee's boys should be so sud- 
denly on the lips of everybody. 

In inquiry we heard that Captain Lee had the 
day before, through some lottery scheme, drawn 
a fifty-thousand-dollar opera-house in Chicago. 
It was this that brought his boys so prominently 
before the students. For a short time Captain 
Lee had a great many friends. In fact, everybody 
seemed to be clamoring to show their friendship 
for him. One of his neighbors, who had never 
been a special friend to him, took the trouble to 
ride some distance, at the midnight hour, to notify 
the captain of his good fortune in drawing so 
valuable a prize. Everybody was glad to improve 
the first opportunity to shake the captain's hand 
and congratulate him on his good fortune. 

It seemed to us that the students almost ven- 
erated the captain's little boys, so kindly were 
their feelings toward the great prize-winner. But, 
alas, some incendiary set the opera-house on fire, 
it burned to the ground, and many of the cap- 
tain's new-found friends were burned up with it. 
His neighbors quit running after him, and we 
heard no more of Captain Lee's boys. This indi- 



14 HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



cates something of the worthlessness of friend- 
ship which is based upon wealth or position of 
men. If you have such friends, they will forsake 
you as soon as adversity comes and friends are 
really needed. 

False friends seem to be largely in the majority, 
but let no person think for one moment that there 
are no true friends. There have been many such 
in every age of the world. In ancient days there 
was David and Jonathan, who were true as steel 
and were not only ready to sacrifice wealth and 
authority, but life itself, for each other. In a later 
age we have a beautiful example of true friend- 
ship in Damon and Pythias. "Damon was sen- 
tenced to die on a certain day, and sought per- 
mission of Dionysius of Syracuse to visit his 
family in the interim. It was granted, on condi- 
tion of securing a hostage for himself. Pythias 
heard of it and volunteered to stand in his friend's 
place. The king visited him in prison and con- 
versed with him about the motive of his conduct ; 
affirming his disbelief in the influence of friend- 
ship. Pythias expressed his wish to die that his 
friend's honor might be vindicated. He prayed 
the gods to delay the return of Damon till after 
his own execution in his stead. 

"The fatal day arrived. Dionysius sat on a 
moving throne, drawn by six white horses. 
Pythias mounted the scaffold and calmly ad- 
dressed the spectators : 'My prayer is heard ; the 
gods are propitious ; for the winds have been con- 
trary till yesterday. Damon could not come; he 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



15 



could not conquer impossibilities ; he will be here 
to-morrow, and the blood which is shed to-day 
shall have ransomed the life of my friend. Oh! 
could I erase from your bosoms every mean sus- 
picion of the honor of Damon, I should go to my 
death as I would to my bridal. My friend will be 
found noble, his truth unimpeachable ; he will 
speedily prove it ; he is now on his way, accusing 
himself, the adverse elements, and the gods, but 
I haste to prevent his speed. Executioner, do 
your office.' 

"As he closed, a voice in the distance cried, 
'Stop the execution!' which was repeated by the 
whole assembly. A man rode up at full speed, 
mounted the scaffold and embraced Pythias, cry- 
ing, 'You are safe, my beloved friend! I now 
have nothing but death to suffer, and am deliv- 
ered from reproaches for having endangered a 
life so much dearer than my own.' Damon re- 
plied, 'Fatal haste, cruel impatience! What en- 
vious powers have wrought impossibilities in 
your favor? But I will not be wholly disap- 
pointed. Since I cannot die to save, I will not 
survive you.' The king heard, and was moved 
to tears. Ascending the scaffold, he cried, 'Live, 
live, ye incomparable pair.' " 

Let no man think that true friendship is a 
thing of the past. The world is full of it, and 
therein is one of the important helps to happi- 
ness. 



16 HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



GOOD LITERATURE IS HELPFUL TO 
HAPPINESS 

Are not good books honey-comb from the bee- 
hives of industry, handed down to us to sweeten 
our lives and help us aim to higher attainments 
of happiness ? Are not good books white-winged 
messengers of love and good cheer, coming out 
of the past to cheer and strengthen us for the 
duties and responsibilities of life? Are not good 
books the golden settings of gems of truth and 
diamonds of knowledge prepared for our diadems 
of rejoicing and crowns of victory? Are not 
good books so many angel gifts sent to sweeten 
the bitterness of human life? When John the 
Revelator stood on the Isle of Patmos he saw a 
mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed 
with a cloud ; and a rainbow was about his head, 
and his face was as the sun, and his feet as pil- 
lars of fire. And he had in his hand a little book 
open ; John says : "And I took the little book out 
of the angel's hand and ate it Up; and it was in 
my mouth sweet as honey." 

Should we not consider all good books as com- 
ing from an angel hand and a provision of kind 
Providence for the promotion of our usefulness 
and happiness in life? And should we not so cul- 
tivate our literary taste that we would always be 
hungry for them and could eat them up? Minc- 
ing will benefit us but little, skimming through 
the volumes will avail nothing, but we must com- 
pletely devour them, masticate them well, digest 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 17 



them thoroughly, assimilate them completely, 
and appropriate their contents to the increase of 
our strength and the promotion of our happiness. 
If this is done, two results will follow — first, we 
will find much pleasure in reading ; books will be 
to us as sweet as honey, and many happy hours 
will be enjoyed with them. Second, they will 
have a refining and polishing influence upon our 
lives. Money or influential friends will no longer 
be necessary to introduce us to good society, but 
intelligence and polish will open the way. 

Are not good books so many phonograph rec- 
ords in which men of the past speak to us for 
the promotion of our prosperity and happiness? 
We knew a minister of the Gospel, a man of 
giant stature, and a tremendous voice, who did 
the singing at his own funeral ; not only that, but 
he continued to cheer the lives of his loved ones 
by his songs recorded on the phonograph. 

You say that a little while ago would have been 
an impossibility. True, but is it any less won- 
derful that good books, as so many phonographic 
records, should speak to us as voices coming from 
the dead? Those we have known, but who now 
are on the other side of the Jordan of death, con- 
tinue to speak to us through books, advising, 
comforting, and filling us with hope and good 
cheer. 

Dr. Franklin, America's best friend, and a man 
who w r ent in and out among kings, said his suc- 
cess in life came from reading a book in child- 
hood. 



18 HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



The advantages of book education have been 
presented by an eminent writer in these im- 
pressive words : "Of all the blessings which it 
has pleased Providence to allow us to cultivate, 
there is not one which breathes a purer fragrance 
or bears a more heavenly aspect than education. 
It is a companion which no misfortune can de- 
press, no crime destroy, no enemy alienate, no 
despotism enslave ; at home a friend, abroad an 
introduction; in solitude a solace, in society an 
ornament ; it chastens vice ; it guides virtue ; it 
gives at once a grace and government to genius. 
Without it, what is man? A splendid slave, a 
reasoning savage, vacillating between the dig- 
nity of an intelligence derived from God and 
the degradation of passions participated with 
brutes." 

While good books are a great help to happi- 
ness, bad literature is as great an influence in the 
opposite direction. One of the greatest evils of 
this age is the reading of sensational novels and 
demoralizing literature. 

YVe have no remembrance of reading but one 
sensational novel. That was when we were 
about grown. It was a thrilling story and held 
us spellbound to the end. When through we 
said: "Well, now what have I gotten from this 
book?" and the only answer we could give was 
"Nothing but the bubbles of fancy." It reminded 
us of childhood days when we used to make soap 
bubbles in the old walnut horse-trough, and, 
blowing them in the air through big gypsum 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



19 



weeds, we followed them in their flight over the 
horse lot until they burst. Such was novel-read- 
ing. YVe felt that it was a sin to waste precious 
time in any such way. We said there and then, 
"This is our last sensational novel." Ch*er thirty- 
five years have passed since we made that resolu- 
tion, and we have never regretted having made 
it. Not only is such reading a waste of precious 
time, but it disqualifies us for the proper study 
of substantial literature, art, science, etc. 

Not only does sensational novel-reading unfit 
man for study of substantial literature, but it 
also unfits him for the every-day duties of life. 
It makes men and boys visionary and dissatisfied 
with any reasonable achievement in life. To 
them the common duties of life are very tiresome, 
and they want to do some great thing, like the 
heroes of their stories. They never will have pa- 
tience to slowly make their way and accomplish 
the ends and aims of life. Sensational novel- 
reading familiarizes the mind with crime, and 
starts many youths on lives of prodigality and 
crime in imitation of the heroes of the cheap 
novels they have read. 

HONESTY IS HELPFUL TO HAPPINESS 

That honesty is helpful to success and happi- 
ness few will question. It is generally conceded 
that "Honesty is the best policy." Why is it the 
best policy? First, because if you are dishonest, 
you will get a bad name, and everybody will shun 
you. A reputation for trickery and dishonesty 



20 HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



will become a barrier to success in any undertak- 
ing. "It will be found that the straight line in 
business, as in geometry, is the shortest, and the 
shortest way to success is along the honest line." 
Second, "Honesty is the best policy" because it 
is right to be honest. This is the true and noble 
reason for honesty. A man should be honest 
because it is right, even if it did not promote his 
own happiness. 

The truly honest man will be honest even when 
he would seem to suffer by so being. "A linen 
merchant in Coleraine offered the famous Dr. 
Adam Clarke, when a youth, a situation in his 
warehouse, which was accepted by him with the 
consent of his parents. He knew well that his 
clerk was religious, but he was not sensible of 
the extent of principle which actuated him. 
Some differences arose at times about the way 
of conducting the business, which were settled 
pretty amicably. But the time of the great Dub- 
lin market approached, and the merchant was 
busy preparing for it. The master and man were 
together in the folding room, when one of the 
pieces was found short of the required number 
of yards. 'Come,' says the merchant, 'it is but 
a trifle. We shall soon stretch it and make out 
the yard. Come, Adam, take one end and pull 
against me/ Adam had neither ears nor heart 
for the proposal, and absolutely refused to do 
what he thought a dishonest thing. A long ar- 
gument and expostulation followed, in which the 
usages of the trade were strongly and variously 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



21 



enforced ; but all in vain. Adam kept to his pur- 
pose, resolving to suffer rather than to sin. He 
was, therefore, obliged to call for one of his men 
less scrupulous, and Adam retired quietly to his 
desk. Soon after the proprietor informed hi? 
'young friend,' as he always seemed proud to 
call him, that it was very clear he was not fit 
for worldly business, and wished him to look out 
for some employment more congenial to his own 
mind." He did so, and with what result all the 
world knows right well. Adam Clarke became 
a prosperous and great man, and his commenta- 
ties on Scripture are not surpassed by any man's, 
living or dead. 

INDUSTRY IS HELPFUL TO HAPPINESS 

Industry is one of the important helps to hap- 
piness. All else being equal, the industrious man 
is the happiest man. Behold the farmer at his 
plow, the mechanic at his bench, the merchant at 
his counter, the lawyer at the bar, the doctor in 
the sick room, and the minister in his pulpit ; are 
they not the happiest of men? 

Some writers have well said : "He that would 
eat the kernel must crack the nut." "No pains, 
no gains." "No sweat, no sweet." "They that 
do nothing are in the ready way to do worse 
than nothing." "The man who gives his children 
habits of industry provides for them better than 
by giving them a fortune." 

How strange it is that so many people have 



22 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



the belief that work is a burden and that idleness 
means happiness. Many are longing for the day 
that they will possess sufficient to quit work and 
take the world easy. They imagine that when 
that time comes their happiness will be complete. 
Alas, how many have reached that period of life 
to find themselves greatly disappointed! Idle- 
ness fails to give the happiness they expected and 
time drags more heavily than ever. The hardest 
job we ever tried was that of doing nothing. 
Often we have earnestly prayed that we might 
cease at once to work and live. 

See that bunch of loafers on the street corner. 
They seldom work, and how they live no one can 
tell. Are they happy? Nay, nay; the goods 
boxes on which they sit testify to their restless- 
ness, for they have tried to while away their long 
hours by whittling them, when there was noth- 
ing else on hand to help pass the time. Certainly 
the idle, yawning, gaping, stretching loafer is not 
an ideal of a happy life. 

Yonder is a company of elderly men in the 
court yard. They are to be seen there every day. 
They are retired business men who assemble there 
daily to tell stories to entertain each other. Are 
these men happy? This is their ideal period of 
life when they are able to live without work and 
expected to be perfectly happy, but are they as 
happy as when employed in the busy activities of 
life? Nay, nay; they will all admit they are dis- 
appointed in their expectations of happiness in 
idleness. They now look back to the active years 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



23 



of their lives as their happiest years. Man is so 
constituted that he must have something to en- 
gage the mind and exercise the body, or he will 
not be very happy. 

ECONOMY IS HELPFUL TO HAPPINESS 

Economy is certainly very necessary to the at- 
tainment of perfect happiness. Who does not 
know that the great majority of happy people are 
economical people, and that many of the most 
unhappy people are spendthrifts? What is more 
true than the saying: "He who will not econ- 
omize will soon agonize?" 

The great Dr. Franklin, in writing of economy, 
says : "Let honesty and industry be thy con- 
stant companions, and spend one penny daily less 
than thy gains ; then shall thy hide-bound pocket 
soon begin to thrive, and will never cry with the 
empty bellyache ; neither will creditors insult 
thee, nor want oppress, nor hunger bite, nor na- 
kedness freeze thee. The whole hemisphere will 
shine brighter, and pleasure spring up in every 
corner of thy heart. Now, therefore, embrace 
these rules and be happy. Banish the bleak 
winds of sorrow from thy mind and live inde- 
pendent. Then thou shalt be a man, and not hide 
thy face at the approach of the rich, nor suffer 
the pain of feeling little when the sons of fortune 
walk at thy right hand ; for independency, 
whether with little or much, is good fortune, and 
places thee on even ground with the proudest of 



24 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



the golden fleece. Oh, then, be wise, and let in- 
dustry walk with thee in the morning, and attend 
thee until thou reachest the evening hour for 
rest. Let honesty be as the breath of thy soul, 
and never forget to have a penny, when all thy 
expenses are enumerated and paid ; then shalt 
thou reach the point of happiness, and independ- 
ence shall be thy shield and buckler, thy helmet 
and crown ; then shalt thy soul walk upright nor 
stoop to the silken wretch because he hath riches, 
nor pocket an abuse because the hand which of- 
fers it wears a ring set with diamonds." 

What a great thing it would be for the world 
ii everybody would cultivate an intimate ac- 
quaintance with the Economy Family. They are 
lovely people, who carry prosperity and sunshine 
to all who are intimately associated with them. 
They are the most friendly and sociable people in 
the world, and are delighted to know everybody. 
If anybody fails to enjoy their society, it is no 
fault of the Economy Family, but wholly their 
own fault. 

Mother Economy is one of the most charming 
ladies in the world, and it is always a delight to 
be in her company. Mother Economy's elder 
brother, whose name is Industry, attends her. 
He is of vigorous physique and full of energy. 
He gladly boosts all whom he finds in trouble. 
To know him is to love and admire him. The 
happiness of many is the result of his loving 
helpfulness. 

Mother Economy's younger brother, whose 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 25 



name is Honesty, also is continually seen in her 
presence. He is somewhat reserved, but when 
once known is found to be pure gold. Many 
people are somewhat doubtful as to his ability to 
aid in the promotion of happiness, but when they 
once test his friendship they doubt no more. 

Mother Economy's younger sister, Patience, 
also lives with her. She is a sweet, modest young 
lady, the pride and joy of all who know her. Her 
oldest daughter, Independence, is the picture of 
health and beauty, delightfully interesting, and 
the ideal of all who know her. Her oldest son, 
Prosperity, is a manly, high-minded fellow, but 
exceedingly friendly and sociable with all classes 
of people. Her youngest daughter, Felicity, is of 
angelic form and demeanor, the pride of the home 
and a great favorite with all who know her. 

SELF-CONTROL IS HELPFUL TO HAPPI- 
NESS 

Self-government is said to be the best of all 
government, and it certainly is a great help to 
happiness. Solomon says : "He that is slow to 
anger is better than the mighty ; and he that rul- 
eth his spirit, than he that taketh a city." (Prov. 
16. 32.) 

Peter the Great said: "Alas, I have civilized 
my own subjects ; I have conquered other na- 
tions, yet I have not been able to conquer my- 
self." " 

There are a whole lot of people in this world 



26 HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



who need watching, but the fellow that you need 
to watch the most is the fellow who lives within. 
If he should get on a tantrum, he could make you 
more trouble than anybody. Be very careful that 
he does not get the advantage of you, or he surely 
will get you into a peck of trouble. 

There is no telling what foolish things he may 
do if he gets in a rage, and gets beyond your con- 
trol. Most of the troubles of many come from 
not properly controlling the fellow within. He 
often breaks up homes and makes all kinds of 
trouble with neighbors. If you can only master 
him, you can get along all right with everybody 
else. But you had better not undertake that task 
alone, and in your own strength, or you will ut- 
terly fail. It takes Divine help and much of the 
grace of God to do that, and don't you forget 
that. 

If you conquer self, you are on the high road 
to success and happiness, but if you let the fellow 
within get beyond your control he is as danger- 
ous as a runaway automobile. Early one morn- 
ing one of the fast sporty young men of St. Louis 
started out through Forest Park in his brother's 
favorite automobile for a morning spin. He was 
a man well experienced in automobile sport, hav- 
ing run several races and come out second best 
more than once. The auto in which he rode that 
morning was bran new, of light make, and he was 
delighted with the ease with which he could 
speed along the smooth driveway. Coming to 
the boulevard and seeing a long stretch clear be- 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



27 



fore him, he let his machine out at full speed, 
going westward toward Blair's monument. On 
reaching the monument, he took the road to the 
left and went on down the incline at a rapid pace. 
All went well until he came to where the road 
forks near the park-keeper's cottage. At this 
point he undertook to turn out the road that leads 
under Wabash bridge. He applied the brake and 
gave a short turn to the lever ; he lost control, 
the automobile was coming in collision with a 
telegraph pole. He braced himself for the shock, 
but the next instant the machine went crashing 
against the post and he went headlong from his 
seat, striking the post, and falling helpless to the 
ground. The machine striking the post, re- 
'bounded twenty feet and lay a complete wreck. 
Immediately there was an explosion and the once 
beautiful automobile went up in flames. The 
burning automobile soon attracted the attention 
of the mounted police, who came to the rescue, 
taking the suffering man away to the hospital, 
more dead than alive. All this trouble came to 
this young sport by his reckless driving. By his 
great speed he lost control of his machine when 
he came to the turn in the road, and an automo- 
bile in flames was the result. 

Was not that runaway automobile on fire a 
good illustration of the persons who let passion 
get control of them and land them into all kinds 
of trouble? This certainly is a true picture of a 
soul on fire with evil passion which has gotten 
beyond all control. If men would be happy they 



28 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



must conquer anger, jealousy, hatred, and all evil 
passions, and this will require watchfulness and 
much of the grace of God. 

SELF-CONFIDENCE IS HELPFUL TO 
HAPPINESS 

A certain degree of self-confidence is necessary 
to success in every avocation of life. Many fail 
and are very unhappy for lack of self-confidence. 
God pity the despondent and discouraged people 
who are thereby unfitted for success and happi- 
ness in life! Alas, how many such are found 
among the children of men ! 

But is there any good reason for this lack of 
self-confidence? True, they have many difficul- 
ties, but that is the common lot of men, and if 
others succeed, why cannot they? True, they 
have had disappointments, but that also is com- 
mon to humanity, and others have surmounted 
them, attaining success and happiness, and why 
cannot they? 

If men are lacking in self-confidence, it is gen- 
erally from an over-estimate of the difficulties 
before them, or from an under-estimate of their 
ability to overcome the obstacles in their way. 
Many noble and talented men and women fail in 
their lifework by an under-estimate of their possi- 
bilities. Even the grand old prophet, Elijah, lost 
confidence by supposing he stood alone before 
the hosts of idolatry. He ran away and wished 
that he might die. God had to call the inex- 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 29 



perienced young man, Elisha, from the field to 
take Elijah's place. At that time God had seven 
thousand people who had not bowed the knee 
to Baal. This illustrates the folly of under-esti- 
mating our possibilities in life's work. 

It matters not what our avocation in life may 
be, we have a right to ask and expect Divine 
help, so long as our aim is not inconsistent with 
Divine requirements. It cannot be expected that 
God will empty the horn of plenty into our laps, 
without any effort on our part, or that he will 
perform miracles for our benefit, but under the 
regular laws of nature and course of events, he 
can so strengthen us, give us wisdom, and so 
bless our efforts as to crown our efforts with suc- 
cess. 

While it is well to take the inward look and 
outward look, it is also well to take the upward 
look, and say with Paul : "I can do all things 
through Christ, which strengthened! me." The 
layman, as well as the minister, has a right to ex- 
pect Divine strength for the work of life. It is a 
well known fact that God helps the latter in a 
marvelous manner, and why will he not do as 
much for the former? 

God can make great merchants, physicians, and 
other useful men out of very poor material, if 
they will but let him. If God helps the preacher, 
why will he not also help the farmer, merchant, 
mechanic, manufacturer, physician, etc.? He 
needs all these as well as preachers, and he cer- 
tainly will help all who trust him. 



30 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



As already indicated, some people lack self- 
confidence, because they over-estimate the diffi- 
culties to be overcome. This has made many a 
good man faint-hearted and unhappy. Of the 
twelve choice men sent to view the Land of 
Promise, ten brought back an evil report, saying 
there were walled cities and great giants there, 
and Israel could not go up and possess the land. 
Because of their over-estimate of the difficulties 
before them, they wandered in the wilderness 
forty years, and only two of them ever entered 
Canaan. So it is to-day, many people lack confi- 
dence because of an over-estimate of the diffi- 
culties before them, and they continue to dwell 
in the wilderness of doubt and despondency, 
when they should at once go forward to success 
and happiness. 

Be it far from us to encourage egotism, or self- 
exaltation, these are despicable in any one, but 
there is a certain degree of self-confidence neces- 
sary to the success and happiness of every person. 

PATIENCE IS HELPFUL TO HAPPINESS 

Patience cannot be over-estimated as a help to 
happiness. It has been said : "All comes right 
to him who can wait." And the Scripture says, 
"Let patience have her perfect work, that we may 
be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." It is 
here plainly taught that if we only have patience, 
we shall want for nothing. 

How much of the unhappiness of life comes 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 31 



from losing our patience and clamoring for im- 
mediate results. One has well said : "Progress of 
the best kind is comparatively slow. Great re- 
sults cannot be achieved at once ; and we must be 
satisfied to advance in life as we walk, step by 
step." "To know how to wait is the great secret 
of success." "We must sow before we can reap, 
and often have to wait long, content, meanwhile, 
to look patiently forward in hope; the fruit best 
worth waiting for often ripening the slowest. It 
is always a mark of short-sightedness and of 
weakness to be impatient of results. Thus true 
growth is often baffled ; like little children who 
plant seeds in their garden, and grub them up to 
see how they grow and so kill them through 
their impatience." 

We once heard a railroad employee say he 
would like to be a farmer if it were not so awful 
long until "pay day." There is one lesson that 
many of us must learn, and that is, that in many 
avocations it is a long time until pay day, and we 
must have patience to wait. O, how many make 
themselves miserable by becoming impatient and 
registering their complaints against everybody, 
not excepting the Almighty! He makes it too 
hot or too cold, too wet or too dry, and we are 
constantly complaining about the weather, as 
well as other things. 

"A merchant was riding home with a knapsack 
full of money behind him ; it rained heavily, and 
he was wet through and through. He complained 
bitterly that God gave him such bad weather 



32 HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



for his journey. His way led him through a 
thick wood. Here with horror he saw a robber, 
who pointed a gun at him and pulled the trigger. 
He would have been killed without a chance of 
escape, but, owing to the rain, the powder had 
become damp, and the gun did not go off. The 
merchant put spurs to his horse, and escaped the 
danger. Then he reflected on his folly in grum- 
bling at the very Providence which saved his 
life." 

Is it not true that much we grow impatient 
over is really for our own good, if we only knew 
it? Bishop Horn has given some of the benefits 
of patience in these impressive words : "Patience 
is the guardian of faith, the preserver of peace, 
the cherisher of love, the teacher of humility. 
Patience governs the flesh, strengthens the spirit, 
sweetens the temper, stifles anger, extinguishes 
envy, subdues pride ; she bridles the tongue, re- 
strains the hand, tramples upon temptations, en- 
dures persecutions, consummates martyrdom. 
Patience produces unity in the church, loyalty in 
the state, harmony in families and societies ; she 
comforts the poor, and moderates the rich ; she 
makes us humble in prosperity, cheerful in adver- 
sity, unmoved by calumny and reproach ; she 
teaches us to forgive those who have injured us, 
and to be the first in asking forgiveness of those 
whom we have injured; she delights the faith- 
ful and invites the unbelieving ; she adorns the 
woman and approves the man ; she is beautiful in 
either sex and every age. Behold her appearance 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



33 



and her attire! Her countenance is calm and 
serene as the face of heaven, unspotted by the 
shadow of a cloud ; and no wrinkle of grief or 
anger is seen in her forehead. Her eyes are as 
the dove's for meekness, and on her brow sits 
cheerfulness and joy. Her mouth is lovely in 
silence ; her complexion and color that of inno- 
cence and security ; while, like the virgin, the 
daughter of Sion, she shakes her head at the ad- 
versary, despising and laughing him to scorn. 
She is clothed in the robes of the martyrs., and 
in her hand she holds a scepter in the form of a 
cross. She rides not in the whirlwind and stormy 
tempest of passion, but her throne is the hum- 
ble, contrite heart, and her kingdom is the king- 
dom of peace." 

CONTENTMENT IS A HELP TO HAPPI- 
NESS 

Contentment is an acquiescence in the will of 
God concerning our lot and portion in this life. 
It is the duty of all to be content in whatsoever 
state they are. Paul says : "I have learned in 
whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." 
(Phil. 4. 11.) 

Contentment is the handmaid of godliness ; they 
should always go hand in hand. Scripture says : 
"Godliness with contentment is great gain." The 
more contentment we have the more godliness, 
and the more godliness the more contentment; 
they mutually help each other. "Be content 



34 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



with such things as ye have, for he hath said, I 
will never leave thee nor forsake thee. So that 
we may boldly say the Lord is my helper, and I 
will not fear what man shall do unto me." (Heb. 
13. 5, 6.) 

Do not suppose that God commands content- 
ment simply because he has authority to do so, 
for it is required because it is best for us. Some 
writer has said : "Contentment is the best food 
to preserve a sound man, and the best medicine, 
to cure a sick man. Contentment will make a 
cottage look as fair as a palace. He is not a poor 
man who has little, but he is poor who wants 
much.' , 

Contentment is helpful in gaining earthly 
treasures, because that is not to be quickly ac- 
complished as a rule, but contentment is most 
useful in reducing the amount of treasure 
wanted. Happiness is not so much in the amount 
of treasure we possess as in being content with 
what we have. Contentment says if we cannot 
have what we would like, we will be content and 
happy with what we have. He who cultivates a 
contented spirit is certainly on the road to happi- 
ness, and he who cultivates a discontented spirit 
is as certainly on the road to unhappiness and 
grief. 

An old writer has well said: "The discon- 
tented is ever restless and uneasy, dissatisfied 
with his station in life, his connections, and al- 
most every circumstance that happens to him. 
He is continually peevish and fretful, impatient 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



35 



of every injury he receives, and unduly impressed 
with every disappointment he suffers. He con- 
siders most other persons as happier than him- 
self, and enjoys hardly any of the blessings of 
Providence with a calm and grateful mind. He 
forms to himself a thousand distressing fears con- 
cerning futurity, and makes his present condition 
unhappy by anticipating the misery he may en- 
dure in years to come." 

Is it not a lamentable fact that much of the 
unhappiness of life comes from people getting 
too big for their jobs? The laborer is too big for 
his job, and he fumes and frets because he be- 
lieves himself worthy of something better, and 
is not satisfied to patiently await promotion. The 
mechanic is too big for his job, and longs for 
something more restful and lucrative. The 
farmer is too big for his job, and feels that farm 
labor is degrading and compensation too uncer- 
tain. The ordinary merchant is too big for his 
job, and cannot patiently await the coming of for- 
tune in the ordinary way, but has visions of great 
department stores which shall bring wealth more 
quickly. Even the ministers of the Gospel, who 
should preach contentment, sometimes get too 
big for their jobs. 

GRATITUDE IS HELPFUL TO HAPPINESS 

Gratitude is a due appreciation of favors re- 
ceived, and is a very important help to happiness. 
There are two reasons why gratitude is necessary 
to human happiness ; one is internal and the other 



36 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



is external. If a man is not grateful for favors be- 
stowed, it shows a littleness and lack of manli- 
ness that must destroy self-respect and produce a 
certain degree of self-condemnation. If a man is 
not grateful for favors received, it brings upon 
him censure, contempt, and isolation by society. 
With most people, none are more contemptible 
than those who are always drinking in favors, 
as a sponge drinks in water, but are never satis- 
fied, and never show any appreciation of what 
they receive. Such people may expect to be left 
severely alone and thereby have their happiness 
destroyed. 

What the Dead Sea is in the natural world, the 
ungrateful man is in the social and spiritual 
world. Year after year it swallows the stream of 
fresh water coming down the Jordan River, yet 
it is never full, and never improves, but conveys 
its death-dealing properties to all water coming 
into it, so that nothing can live therein. Such is 
the ungrateful person, he is never satisfied ; 
though streams of blessing are continually flow- 
ing into his life, he is filled with ingratitude and 
does nothing in return for favors received. 

Dr. South has said : "The only voice of ingrat- 
itude is 'Give, give!' But when the gift is once 
received, then, like the swine in his trough, it is 
silent and insatiable. In a word, the ungrateful 
person is a monster which is all throat and belly 
— a kind of a thoroughfare or common sewer for 
the good things of the world to pass into; and 
of whom, in respect of all kindnesses conferred 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



37 



on him, may be verified that observation of the 
lion's den, before which appeared the footsteps of 
many that had gone in hither, but no prints of 
any that ever came out thence." 

Much of the lack of gratitude comes from false 
notions as to what is due us in this life. Many 
people have an idea that the world owes them a 
great deal, and if they do not get all they wish, 
they are very much dissatisfied. Their coming 
into the world is very much like a child coining 
into a toy store. It claims all in sight, fills its 
arms, and cries because it cannot hold more. 
Just so with some men. They seem to want all 
that is in sight, and are ungrateful, no difference 
how much they get. The first thing such people 
need to learn is that God does not owe them any- 
thing. The debt is coming from man instead of 
God. Man has done nothing, and can do noth- 
ing, to put the Almighty in debt to him. 

AFFECTION IS HELPFUL TO HAPPINESS 

That love is a help to happiness has never been 
questioned. Indeed, he dwells within every 
happy home on the face of the earth, and none 
are really happy without him. When love comes 
in at the front door, hatred, envy, strife, and 
gloom go out at the back door, never to enter 
again while love remains there. Love is of noble 
birth and heavenly origin. The glory of his per- 
sonality no words can describe. He is as an angel 
of light dwelling among the children of men. 

But one imperfection has ever been attributed 



38 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



to love, and that is the saying that he is some- 
times blind. That being conceded, it is well for 
all who have important business dependent upon 
him to exercise judgment and watchfulness, lest 
they be led into obligations which they shall aft- 
erwards regret especially in marriage. 

Henry Ward Beecher speaks of the supremacy 
of love in these impressive words : "Love, amid 
the other graces of this world, is like a cathedral 
tower, which begins at the earth and at the first 
is surrounded by the other parts of the structure. 
But at length, rising above buttresses, wall and 
arch, and parapet and pinnacle, it shoots, spire- 
like, many a foot right into the air, so high that 
the huge cross on its summit glows like a spark 
in the morning light, and shines like a star in the 
evening sky, when the rest of the pile is envel- 
oped in darkness. So love here is surrounded by 
the other graces, and divides the honors with 
them ; but they will have felt the wrap of night 
and of darkness, when it will shine, luminous, 
against the sky of eternity." 

Also a Mr. Miller has said : "If an angel were 
to fly swiftly over the earth on a summer morn- 
ing while the early dew of heaven rested on the 
flowers, and go into every garden, the king's, 
the rich man's, the peasant's, the child's, and 
were to bring from each one the choicest, loveliest, 
sweetest flower that blooms in each, and gather 
them all into one cluster in his radiant hands, 
what a beautiful bouquet it would be! And if 
an angel were to fly swiftly all over the earth, 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 39 



into every sweet and holy home, into every spot 
where one heart yearns over another, and were 
to take out of every father's heart, and every 
mother's heart, and out of every heart that loves, 
its holiest flower of affection, and gather all into 
one cluster, what a blessed love garland would 
his eyes behold ! What a holy love would this 
aggregation of all earth's loves be !" 

When we consider the lofty character of love, 
and remember his wonderful helpfulness to man, 
it would seem that he could have no opposition 
in his work, nor enemies under the sun ; yet 
there is a whole bunch of fellows who are con- 
stantly antagonizing love. Among them are an- 
ger, hatred, revenge, envy, and jealousy. Love 
will have no fellowship with these, and if any one 
of them is admitted into the heart love goes out. 

Anger often undertakes to surprise the keeper 
of the citadel of the soul, and in a mighty rage 
hurl love from his throne. Alas, how often does 
he succeed ! Hatred comes with a persistency 
worthy of a better cause, and clamors for pos- 
session of the citadel of the soul. 

Revenge comes red hot and will wreak venge- 
ance upon innocent victims or die. Envy and 
jealousy, twin sisters, come with the cunning of 
the fox to steal away our peace and happiness 
by banishing all love from the precincts of the 
soul. Let us ever be on the watch that we may 
protect love in the citadel of the soul ; eject all 
intruders, for love is one of our chief helps to 
happiness. 



40 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



GENEROSITY IS HELPFUL TO HAPPI- 
NESS 

Some people think that generosity leads to the 
poorhouse, but that is a mistake. It leads to 
prosperity and happiness. True, it may, to some 
degree, diminish our fortunes, but in return it 
gives us a satisfaction and happiness that for- 
tunes could not give. The thought of having 
benefited and increased the happiness of others 
gives more real happiness than the thought that 
we possess the amounts given to others. 

It is said : "A lady visited New York City, and 
saw on the sidewalk a ragged, cold, and hungry 
little girl gazing wistfully at some of the cakes 
in a shop window. She stopped, and taking the 
little one by the hand, led her into the store. 
Though she was aware that bread might be bet- 
ter for the cold child than cake, yet, desiring to 
gratify the shivering and forlorn one, she bought 
and gave her the cake she wanted. She took her 
to another place, where she procured her a shawl 
and other articles of comfort. The grateful little 
creature looked the lady full in the face, and, with 
artless simplicity, said, 'Are you God's wife?'" 
Was that not far more satisfaction than the pos- 
session of what she had given away? No, gen- 
erosity is not God's wife, but she is one of the 
most charming daughters of Mother Love. 
Mother Love has no other child of which she 
should feel more proud than of Generosity. She 
is the world's ideal of big-heartedness. She 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



41 



walks forth in majestic splendor with a halo of 
glory about her head, and with warm heart and 
open hand blesses mankind. She is the very op- 
posite of penuriousness and stinginess. 

What better illustration of her beneficence can 
we find than the moon, our queen of night? The 
moon borrows all her light from the sun and re- 
flects it to the earth. While she goes forth in 
her queenly splendor across the heavens illumi- 
nating the pathway of the children of men and 
calling forth their admiration, she shines with a 
borrowed light. If the sun were to be darkened, 
her light would be cut off and her glory would 
be departed. So Generosity shines with a bor- 
rowed light. Her gifts all come from the benefi- 
cent hand of our Heavenly Father. The glory 
for giving we should never claim, but the pleas- 
ure of giving we may all enjoy. Who would not 
rather be Generosity, scattering flowers of hap- 
piness among men, than be a penurious, stingy 
skeleton hugging his bags of gold ? 

COURTESY IS HELPFUL TO HAPPINESS 

Courtesy is nothing more than being polite and 
obliging; it is a help to the happiness of both 
parties concerned. Every man feels the better 
by being shown the courtesies of life, and every 
man is the happier by having shown them. 

Certainly it can be no pleasure to men to pass 
each other in silence, as the brutes of the field, 
yet there are some people who are, or seem to be, 



42 HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



entirely void of courtesy, showing no more re- 
spect for each other than a monkey, a moose, or 
a high-headed goose. Some human beings ac- 
tually move about each other like bears in a cage, 
never noticing each other, except to growl occa- 
sionally. 

Certainly every man can be courteous, for it 
costs nothing, and is within the ability of all. 
William Wirt, writing to his daughter, said: "I 
want to tell you a secret. The way to make 
yourself pleasing to others is to show them at- 
tention. The whole world is like the miller at 
Mansfield, 'who cared for nobody, — no, not he, — 
because nobody cared for him/ And the whole 
world would serve you so if you gave them the 
same cause. Let every one, therefore, see that 
you do care for them, by showing them what 
Sterne so happily called the small courtesies, in 
which there is no parade, whose voice is too still 
to tease, and which manifest themselves by ten- 
der and affectionate looks and little acts of at- 
tention, giving others the preference in every lit- 
tle enjoyment — at the table, in the field, walking, 
sitting, and standing." 

While the motive for courtesy should be hap- 
piness to others, it often proves quite profitable 
to ourselves. A very ordinary-looking man once 
entered the capitol at Washington, D. C, and 
inquired for a certain Senator. For some time 
no one took any interest in him and his search 
for the Senator was in vain. Finally, a certain 
employee addressed him most courteously and 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 43 



went to no little trouble to find the man he 
wanted to see. That man proved to be the presi- 
dent of a great Western railroad, and, before de- 
parting, made an engagement to meet this cour- 
teous employee, and gave him a job at double 
the salary he was getting at Washington. He is 
now one of the head men of that system, and all 
because he was courteous. 

Courtesy is a debt we owe to everybody, re- 
gardless of the returns we may expect. Failing 
to discharge this duty sometimes gets us into 
very embarrassing predicaments. When a young 
man we tried the life of a book agent for about 
two weeks, and we would advise all young men 
to take an apprenticeship at that business for 
that length of time at least. It gives a splendid 
opportunity to see the ugly side of human na- 
ture. In that two weeks we met all kinds of peo- 
ple, good and bad, polite and impolite, courteous 
and hateful. Many a time did we get the door 
shut in our face, and we were very fortunate if 
the raving dogs were not turned loose upon us. 
Many who were considered very nice people 
would become very angry on the first sight of a 
book agent. One of these, whom we never for- 
got, was Farmer John. He was plowing corn in 
the branch bottom when we appeared. He and 
the hired man were sitting on their plows resting 
their horses. He watched us come across the 
field until we were in speaking distance of him, 
when he slapped his horse with the lines and 
started off. We tried to reason with him, but 



44 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



with angry shaking of his head, and vehement 
gesticulation, he drove away from us. 

We thought, "Well, old fellow, go, if you will ; 
but since you are so smart, we will get even with 
you by putting one of those books in your house, 
just to show you that we can." We went out to 
the road and hastened over the hill to his house, 
determined to sell his wife a book before he could 
get there. We proceeded to explain the wonder- 
ful merits of our book, and soon consummated a 
sale. Just then we heard some man come in on 
the back porch, and we got ready to make tracks 
in the other direction, supposing that Farmer 
John was upon us. Fortunately for us, it was the 
hired man, and we got away before the man of 
the house could get there. 

Years passed by, fortunes were reversed, and 
Farmer John, as a poor man, lived in a tenant 
house on our farm. One day as we were work- 
ing with a reaper, we said, "John, do you remem- 
ber that book agent who came to you when you 
were plowing corn in the branch bottom?" 

"Yes," said he, "I remember that very well." 

"You treated him pretty bad, didn't you?" 
said I. 

John admitted that he did. 

"Well," said I, "do you know who that agent 
was?" 

"No, I do not," said he. "Do you?" 
We told him that we did, and that his landlord 
was that agent. 

He was very much surprised, and greatly re- 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 45 



gretted that he did not show even a book agent 
the common courtesies of life. 

It is always best to be courteous to all men, 
even those in the lowest walks of life. Who can 
tell when the fortunes of life may be reversed? 
Besides, courtesy is a debt we all owe to hu- 
manity. 

KINDNESS IS HELPFUL TO HAPPINESS 

Kindness is helpful to the happiness of both 
recipient and giver. Who does not feel happier 
on showing kindness to others, and who does not 
feel happier on receiving the manifestation of 
kindness ? Deeds of kindness shown in the little 
things of life constitute man's chief happiness. 
Many are not able to do any great things for 
others, but all can find abundant opportunity of 
showing little deeds of kindness which will add 
much to the happiness of mankind. 

An old writer has said : "In the intercourse of 
social life it is by little acts of watchful kindness 
recurring daily and hourly, — and the opportuni- 
ties of doing kindnesses, if sought for are forever 
starting up, — it is by words, by tones, by ges- 
tures, by looks, that affection is won and pre- 
served. He who neglects these trifles, yet boasts 
that whenever a great sacrifice is called for he 
shall be ready to make it, will rarely be loved. 
The likelihood is, he will not make it; and if he 
does, it will be much rather for his own sake than 
for his neighbor's. Many persons, indeed, are 



46 HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



said to be penny-wise and pound-foolish! but 
they who are penny-foolish will hardly be pound- 
wise ; although selfish vanity may now and then 
for a moment get the better of selfish indolence ; 
for wisdom will always have a microscope in her 
hand." 

As to kindness as a help to happiness, Dr. 
Gunn says : "Kindness will go further and bring 
us more happiness in this world than all the 
haughtiness and asperity we can possibly as- 
sume." How much easier, too, it is to act kindly 
and naturally to our fellow men, and even to the 
domestic, useful and faithful animals about us, 
than to effect a rude and boisterous demeanor, 
which is sure not only to make others despise us, 
but on reflection to cause us to despise ourselves. 
A kind, a sympathizing word from the lips falls 
like oil upon the ruffled waters of the human 
breast. And this is the great secret in the suc- 
cess of business, why some are successful and 
others unfortunate. An indelible motto should 
be impressed on the mind of every sensible man, 
who would wish to pass through life success- 
fully, — that honey catches flies, but vinegar 
never. Nothing is more valuable, that is so 
easily purchased, than good nature. A man with 
a pleasant disposition finds friends everywhere, 
and makes friends where people of a contrary na- 
ture see only enemies. Good nature is one of the 
sweetest gifts of Providence ; like the pure sun- 
shine it gladdens, enlivens, and cheers in the 
midst of anger and revenge. It is good nature 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



47 



that elevates, purifies, and exalts ; but the re- 
verse that degrades, debases, and destroys. Who 
will not strive to possess this glorious trait of 
character? 

"The heart is easily overcome by acts of kind- 
ness. A kind word may fall like drops of rain 
upon the drooping flowers. Every kind act you 
bestow will have its influence and eternity will 
reveal it. I am convinced that there never yet 
was an instance in which kindness has been fairly 
exercised but that it has subdued the enmity op- 
posed to it. The first effort may not succeed, but 
let it repeatedly shed the dew of its holy influence 
upon the revengeful soul, and it will soon become 
beautiful with every flower of tenderness. Let 
any person put the question to himself, whether 
under any circumstances he can deliberately re- 
sist continued kindness, and a voice of affection 
will answer, 'That good is omnipotent in over- 
coming evil.' " 

If the angry and revengeful person would only 
govern his passions and light the lamp of af- 
fection in his heart, that it might stream out in 
his features and actions, he would soon discover 
a wide difference in his communion with the 
world. A kind word, an obliging action, even if 
it be a trifling one, has a power superior to the 
harp of David in calming the billows of the soul. 

"Every great and noble feeling which we ex- 
ercise, every good action which we perform, is a 
round in the ladder which leads to God. How 
delightful it is to scatter the blessings of benevo- 



48 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



lence over the habitation of distress ; to raise the 
drooping head of pining worth ; to minister to 
the poor widow and friendless orphan ; to pro- 
mote the industry of the poor ; to bestow rewards 
on the children of labor, and to search into the 
cause of sorrow and distress. Men think very 
little of the value of a bow, or a smile, or friendly 
salutation, yet how small the cost, how often 
great the return. By a few soft words and pleas- 
ant looks enemies have been made friends, and 
old attachments renewed that had been annulled 
for years. A smile ; it beams upon the lover's 
heart like a ray of sunshine in the depths of the 
forest. A nod, a kindly look ; it has gained more 
friends than Avealth and learning put together. A 
grasp of the hand ; it is more potent in cementing 
the ties of affection than all feelings of self-inter- 
est." 

MONEY IS HELPFUL TO HAPPINESS 

Some may be surprised when we say that 
money is helpful to happiness, for they have the 
impression that Scripture condemns the use of 
money. It does nothing of the kind. It says, 
"The love of money is the root of all evil," but 
it does not say that money is evil. If men love 
money to the sacrifice of principles, such love is 
an evil, but the money itself is not evil. 

The Master sanctioned the use of money by 
allowing Judas to act as treasurer of the school 
of disciples and take charge of money carried for 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 49 



their use. Also the Savior approved of the use of 
money when he had Peter fish money out of the 
Sea of Galilee to pay his tax. It is not the use of 
money, but the abuse of money that is con- 
demned in Scripture. 

Speaking of money, John Wesley, the founder 
of Methodism, says : "Get all you can without 
hurting your soul, your body, or your neighbor." 

That money properly used is a very great 
blessing and a great help to happiness is a fact 
well established by the experience of mankind. 
There are many physical and intellectual wants 
of man that can be satisfied in no other way but 
by the use of money, and these wants being un- 
satisfied men cannot be perfectly happy. 

The unfortunate thing about this money ques- 
tion is that so many people rely upon money 
alone for happiness. This is a fatal error, for 
there are many needs of man that money cannot 
supply. Many wear out their bodies and dis- 
tract their minds to accumulate a certain amount 
of money, supposing that thereby they will be 
perfectly happy. Many times they give up in 
despair, but when they succeed they are disap- 
pointed to find that money cannot give perfect 
happiness. 

Man has a spiritual nature which must be sat- 
isfied in order to be happy, and money cannot 
provide for spiritual wants. Happiness is not al- 
together a matter of external surroundings, but 
is largely a matter of internal conditions. Money 
can benefit only the outward man, while the 



50 HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



wants of the inward man must be met in other 
ways, as we shall notice more fully elsewhere. 

Another mistake made by many is that of ex- 
pecting to get money for nothing. They wait for 
something to turn up that will make them inde- 
pendent, instead of getting out and turning up 
something by which they can realize the desired 
money. If men would have money, they should 
expect to earn it, for as a rule that is the only 
way to get it. 

One summer day, between the hours of twelve 
and one, a large crowd of people were seen to 
gather in front of one of the leading retail stores 
in St. Louis. So great was the crowd of excited 
men that they blocked the street out as far as 
the street-car track. The crowd all wore new 
straw hats of the same make, and judging from 
the excited manner in which they all ran at each 
other and interrogated each other, one might 
have concluded that some lunatic asylum had 
suddenly emptied itself into that street. They 
were all running about in the most frantic man- 
ner and asking each other the question : "Are 
you the man with the fifty-dollar bill." A reign 
of pandemonium prevailed as the crowd rushed 
madly at each other and screamed: "Are you 
the man with the fifty-dollar bill." One might 
have well concluded that they were all raving 
crazy over the money question, but they were 
not. They simply had an eye to business and 
were following a very general desire to get some- 
thing for nothing. 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



51 



That store management had advertised to give 
a genuine fifty dollar bill to any man or boy who 
would come there at that hour and ask the man 
who had the fifty-dollar bill for it. Of course 
they could not tell which man had it, so they 
asked every man they met, hoping thereby to 
secure the money. 

This uproar had continued for about a half 
hour, when a young student noticed a man rush- 
ing about asking the question with unusual vim, 
so he rushed up to this person who seemed so 
anxious to get the money and asked him if he 
were the man with the fifty-dollar bill. The man 
suddenly stopped, took the student into the store, 
and gave him the fifty-dollar bill as they had 
promised to do in their advertisement. 

That proved to be a successful advertising 
scheme, and it made one person very happy, but 
hundreds went away feeling a degree of disap- 
pointment. There is a very large class of such 
people who are always looking for a chance to 
get something for nothing and they are gener- 
ally disappointed. 

TEMPERANCE IS HELPFUL TO HAPPI- 
NESS 

But few things are more essential to happiness 
than a temperate life. Dr. Franklin well says : 
"Temperance puts wood on the fire, meal in the 
barrel, bread in the cupboard, money in the purse, 
credit in the community, contentment in the 



52 HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



house, clothes on the back, and vigor in the 
body." 

Temperance proposes to lavish blessings upon 
its devotees, and also destroy the serpent of in- 
temperance. One Sunday afternoon, we, with 
our nephew, were sitting in the parlor with some 
ladies, when a serpent appeared in our midst. 
One of two things must be done at once, either 
we must kill that snake or persuade the ladies 
to let it stay in the parlor. This was doubtless 
his snakeship's first appearance in society, and 
he was somewhat embarrassed, but not more so 
than the ladies. We might have undertaken to 
console them by telling them that snakes were 
as harmless as poodle dogs, and insisted on not 
disturbing him, but we thought it safest to kill 
him at once. 

Do you say those ladies never could have been 
reconciled to that blue racer and have been made 
to think it nice to have such things in the parlor? 
Well, perhaps not, but fashionable society has 
become reconciled to that which is just as un- 
reasonable. They welcome the serpent of intem- 
perance into their homes and think it the latest 
fad to pet him as he lurks in the wine glass in 
their parlors. In fact, many fashionable people 
think they cannot have a real swell party with- 
out the serpent of intemperance being present in 
the parlor. 

If we had detained that serpent in the parlor 
with our sweethearts that Sabbath afternoon, the 
worst he could have done would have been to 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



53 



poison and destroy their physical bodies, but if 
this deadly serpent of intemperance is not ex- 
cluded from the parlors of our land he will not 
only destroy the young manhood and woman- 
hood of our land, but what is worse, he will send 
their never-dying souls to perdition. May God 
awaken the people of this nation that they may 
see the awful consequences of introducing wine 
and other intoxicants into the homes of the na- 
tion ! 

This picture is not overdrawn. If all the ser- 
pents of the world were combined in one it would 
not equal the serpent of intemperance. He has 
the hideous qualities of them all. Yes, he is a 
blue racer, spreading adder, rattlesnake, copper- 
head, moccasin, viper, and all others combined 
into one, with the deadly poison and peculiar 
characteristics of them all. The blue racer is 
above all others noted for its running ability. It 
is said there are but few things in nature that 
can beat him. He fitly represents that dread 
serpent intemperance, which is indeed a blue 
racer. It seems that none can ever get ahead of 
him. Many years ago fourteen missionaries took 
a vessel to Africa, expecting to get out of reach 
of him, and lead that savage people to Christ. 
To their great surprise two thousand barrels of 
whiskey were unloaded from the vessel on which 
they had made their journey. This blue racer 
had outrun them, and been poisoning the natives 
long before they arrived. 

Some years ago there was a great race for the 



54 HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



possession of homes in Oklahoma, and this blue 
racer beat them all, yes, even the preachers. It's 
pretty hard to get ahead of the preachers, but he 
can do it, and he was there ready for business 
long before the preachers got there. 

There was a race to the Klondike for the pos- 
session of the gold fields — laborers, mechanics, 
merchants, doctors, lawyers, and statesmen were 
in the race, but this blue racer was ahead of all, 
and was there ready for his deadly work when 
the others arrived. 

Another great race to our new possessions in 
the Atlantic and Pacific has been made. The 
blue racer of intemperance outran them all, even 
by water. Others may follow the flag, but he is 
there and ready for business when the others ap- 
pear. This blue racer has got the world beat — 
preachers, merchants, doctors, lawyers, mechan- 
ics, sports, and all. When he gets on the long 
stretch for the almighty dollar, everybody else 
gets left. How long will this continue to be true? 

The serpent of intemperance is a copperhead. 
The copperhead is one of the most poisonous of 
serpents. He is noted for his sly cunning and 
foxy nature. He lives mostly in holes in the 
ground, and when he is out of his safe retreat, 
and is disturbed, he immediately enters his hole 
and seems to take his hole in with him, so it is 
very difficult, indeed, even to find his where- 
abouts. For this reason he is a fit type of the 
serpent of intemperance, whose blind tigers are 
so difficult to find, and who, when pursued, seems 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 55 



to enter his hole and take his hole in with him 
All that is sneaking, cunning, and deceptive in 
the copperhead, finds its parallel in this serpent 
of intemperance. 

Intemperance is a spreading adder. The 
spreading adder is well named, for there seems 
to be no limit to his spreading capacity. Well 
do we remember how in boyhood days we used 
to plow him up in the wheat field and call broth- 
ers Ben and Jim to help clod and tantalize him to 
see him spread himself. Every clod that hit him 
made him run out his fiery tongue and spread 
himself a little wider. It seemed like his flesh 
and bones were all of rubber and he would not 
cease to spread himself until almost as flat as a 
pancake. We never saw anything to equal him, 
except the serpent of intemperance. It is an old- 
time spreading adder, which acts in the same 
way this snake did, the more he is pelted the 
more he seems to spread himself. The old-time 
temperance societies pelted him for years with 
solemn vows, but still he spreads. The Woman's 
Christian Temperance Union deluged him with 
clods of moral suasion, but still he spreads. Anti- 
Saloon Leaguers pelted him with hard clods of 
legal suasion, but still he spreads. City corpora- 
tions pricked him with municipal taxation, but 
still he spreads. The national government an- 
noyed him by pasting him over with revenue 
stamps, but that only makes him spread himself 
more and more. Last of all, the Carrie Nation 
smashers go forth with their hatchets to smash 



56 HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



him, yet he continues to spread, in spite of all 
their efforts. The spread of this adder of intem- 
perance will never be stopped until the prohi- 
bition ax cuts off his tail just behind his eyes. 
Anything short of this can only be compared to 
our clodding the old spreading adder. It may an- 
noy him, anger him, impede his progress, but it 
will never stop his spreading. 

Some boys used to think the tail was the most 
dangerous end of a snake, and if they could cut 
that off, he would become harmless, or if they 
could get a firm hold of his tail they could handle 
him with impunity. Many a foolhardy boy has 
tried this to his sorrow. A good many temper- 
ance people make the same mistake about this 
serpent of intemperance. They go to work on 
the wrong end ; instead of cutting off his head by 
legal prohibition, they continue to monkey with 
his tail, trying to regulate it by license and taxa- 
tion. 

One reason why the serpent of intemperance 
is not destroyed is because many people are not 
afraid of it. They have often lost their best 
friends on earth by the bite of the serpent, yet 
they claim it will do no harm if properly handled. 
They continue to take the risk until it is too late, 
and they fall victims of his life-destroying poison. 

Another reason why this serpent is not de- 
stroyed is because many people do not care how 
many others fall victims of his bite just so their 
families escape. So selfish are they that to save 
a few paltry dollars taxation, they are willing to 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 57 



license him to destroy all their neighbors who 
come within his power. 

A third reason this serpent is not destroyed, is 
because it is protected by law. Yes, it is a lam- 
entable fact that the law is the strong shield 
that protects this serpent. Had it not been for 
the law's protection, he would have been de- 
stroyed long ago. Behold the serpent of intem- 
perance thrice encircling this great world and 
constantly drawing more tightly his deadly coil ! 
See his wide-open mouth extending from Cuba 
to Canada, and hear his sickening serpentine hiss 
that echoes through the mountains of this terres- 
trial sphere! See his great distended eyes pro- 
truding from his head and extending higher than 
Mount Washington or Pike's Peak! Look at 
his long, forked, fiery tongue extending across 
the Alleghenies, Mississippi Valley, Rocky 
Mountains, and out over the Pacific Ocean, en- 
circling the Hawaiian and Philippine Islands ! 
See his poisonous fangs shooting forth streams of 
liquid poison a thousand times larger than the 
combined streams of a thousand fire engines ! Be- 
hold the thousands of deluded souls rushing head- 
long into his wide-open mouth ! See more than 
three hundred thousand liquor dealers and manu- 
facturers helping on this hellish work of destruc- 
tion ! Hear the cries and groans of the millions 
of poor drunkards, as they writhe in the last 
agonies of lost manhood ! Yet this awful mon- 
ster is protected by law. 

Is it not a fact conceded by all that intemper- 



58 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



ance causes more want and poverty, pain and 
suffering, sorrow and grief, than all other causes 
combined? If temperance people can but de- 
stroy this evil, will it not truly be one of earth's 
greatest helps to happiness? 

RELIGION IS HELPFUL TO HAPPINESS 

We are well aware that with many people re- 
ligion is the last thing they will look to for hap- 
piness. They have the impression that religion 
makes people very sad, long-faced, and gloomy, 
and that it deprives men of many of the pleasures 
of life. This is a very great mistake and should, 
by all means, be corrected. However, it is no 
marvel that many people have such impressions, 
for much Christian work is attended with such 
solemnity and sadness, and much Christian tes- 
timony has so little sunshine in it, that people 
very naturally get the impression that religion 
is very gloomy, and it becomes repulsive to them. 

Are there not a great many people repulsed 
and turned against religion by the long-faced, 
solemn, and sad professors who put so much 
gloom in their Christian effort, that they utterly 
fail? A little cheerfulness and sunshine would be 
far more successful. Again we often see people 
turned against religion by the sad and gloomy 
testimonies of God's people. They tell of their 
crosses, troubles, and temptations so much, and 
say so little about their peace and happiness, that 
people who hear them conclude that religion has 
brought them a lot of trouble, and must be a 
very undesirable experience. 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 59 



True, there are crosses in Christian life, but 
they are blessings in disguise. When we take up 
the cross, it always brings happiness. True, 
there are troubles in Christian life, but not half 
so many as in a life of sin. Religion shields men 
from troubles, while sin always gets them into 
trouble. True, there are temptations in the 
Christian life, but not near so many as in the life 
of sin. All the difference is the sinner goes along 
willingly, while the Christian resists it. 

We once saw the sheriff taking a man to jail. 
The prisoner was smoking, talking, and laugh- 
ing; people would think him the happiest man on 
the street, but he was not half so happy as the 
men who had not violated the law. So, as Satan 
takes bad men to the eternal prison, they may 
seem happy, but they are not half so happy as 
the Christian. 

Men never make a greater mistake than when 
they think religion is a gloomy thing, intended 
to meet the wants of people at death. It is in 
life that man needs religion most of all. If there 
were no hell to shun, or heaven to gain, religion 
would still be a human necessity. It is intended 
especially to make men happy in life. 

We do not say that religion is all that is neces- 
sary to human happiness, as do some. But we do 
say that there is nothing that is so important as 
it, and that no person can be perfectly happy in 
this life without it. 

Religion alone can cancel our debt of sin. 
What is there in this world that is more to be 
dreaded than debts, and what makes more un- 



60 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



happiness among men. There are but few things 
that crush the life out of one like a burden of 
debt. They break our spirit, crush our ambitions, 
destroy our homes, and drive us to despair as 
nothing else can do. Some debts are worse than 
others. Most people think that surety debts are 
the worst debts in the world and the hardest to 
pay. They are bad enough, the Lord knows, and 
we pity those who are so unfortunate as to have 
them to pay. But there is another kind of debt 
that is still worse than surety debts, and that is 
the debt of sin. This is indeed the worst debt in 
the universe of God, for we can get rid of all 
other debts before or at death, but death can 
never release us from the debt of sin. We all 
have a debt of sin and unfortunately we have not 
the ability to pay it. But we have one consola- 
tion, and that is that the Lord Jesus came to 
earth to pay that debt of sin for us if we will 
but believe on him. 

Many refuse to let Christ in when he knocks 
at the door of their hearts for the express pur- 
pose of paying their debt of sin. These people 
are like the poor tenant woman of whom we once 
read. She could not pay her rent and her land- 
lord was about to put her out of his house. Her 
pastor heard of her distress and hastened with 
the money to pay her rent for her. She heard 
the knock at the door, but supposing it was her 
hard-hearted landlord coming to put her out of 
doors, she hid and refused to open the door. Aft- 
erwards when she met her pastor, and found out 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



61 



that it was he who was at her door, and that he 
came to pay her debt, she felt heartily ashamed 
of herself. 

There are a good many people who are bolting 
the doors of their hearts against Christ when he 
comes to pay their debt of sin. The day is com- 
ing that they will regret this foolish action, but 
then it may be too late. Christ says : "Behold, 
I stand at the door and knock ; if any man open 
the door, I will come in and sup with him and 
he with me." O, sinner, throw open the door of 
thy heart and let Jesus come in and pay your 
debt of sin, and you will be happy beyond ex- 
pression ! 

Religion alone can change man's sinful and 
unhappy nature. Men are unhappy largely be- 
cause of internal conditions, and God alone can 
remedy those unfortunate hindrances to happi- 
ness. This he does by the cleansing power of 
the Holy Spirit in the work of regeneration. By 
this marvelous change men become more re- 
signed, contented, loving, and happy. They pos- 
sess many new elements that are necessary to 
happiness, and are freed from many sinful de- 
sires, passions, and ambitions which tend to de- 
stroy happiness. "Old things are passed away 
and behold all things are become new." (2 Cor. 
5. 17.) 

Religion alone can keep us in the paths of vir- 
tue and uprightness so essential to happiness in 
life. We are surrounded by evil and temptations 

on every hand, and it is only by the helps of re- 



62 HELPS TO HAPPINESS 



ligious associates and religious experience that 
we are kept from the path of sin which leads to 
untold sufferings and sorrows in this life as well 
as punishment in the life to come. 

Religion alone can give us a hope of future 
happiness which is essential to our happiness 
here. The best that can be said of the ungodly 
man's future is that it is a "leap in the dark." 
We cannot help but think of death most fre- 
quently during life, and uncertainty as to the 
future will ever hover over us as a dark cloud 
of gloom, and shut out sunshine and happiness 
from our life. Who can be happy when he knows 
that to-morrow he may leap out into the dark, 
not knowing where he may appear after death ! 
If religion did nothing more than open up a 
glorious future prospect, what a wonderful 
source of happiness it would be! 

A portrayal of the benefits of religion is found 
in the beautiful language of Balfern, who says of 
it: "Oh, the wonders it will accomplish! It 
wipes guilt from the conscience, rolls the world 
out of the heart, and darkness from the mind. It 
will brighten the most gloomy scene, smooth the 
most rugged path, and cheer the most despair- 
ing mind. It will put honey into the bitterest 
cup, and health into the most diseased soul. It 
will give hope to the heart, health to the face, 
oil to the head, light to the eye, strength to the 
hand, and swiftness to the foot. It will make 
life pleasant, labor sweet, and death triumphant. 
It gives faith to the fearful, courage to the timid, 



/ 



HELPS TO HAPPINESS 63 

and strength to the weak. It robs the grave of 
its terrors, and death of its sting. It subdues 
sin, severs from self, makes faith strong, love ac- 
tive, hope lively, and zeal invincible. It gives 
sonship for slavery, robes for rags, makes the 
cross light, and reproach pleasant; it will trans- 
form a dungeon into a palace, and make the fires 
of martyrdom as refreshing as the cool breeze 
of summer. It snaps legal bonds, loosens the 
soul, clarifies the mind, purifies the affections, 
and often lifts the saint to the very gates of 
heaven. . . . No man can deserve it ; money 
cannot buy it or goods procure it ; grace reigns 
here." 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Dec. 2004 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724) 779-2111 



